The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-06-18

the average of European and average of
American wages. Indeed, In no other con.
tinent OF earth Is there so great diversity
so Wide range In the wages OF labor as
here, under absolute free trade between
the states. The price of a suit of clothes
is the same In New York, Chicago, San
Francisco-anywhere between the two
oceans. The tariff may determine the
price OF goods, but II 1t fixes and deter
mines the price of labor, where and In what
state does II fix IT, Does It fix wages In
Vermont, which average $29444, or In
Virginia, where they average $ls475s In
Connecticut, at 1886 %, or In Maine, at
$2573 In Illinois, at $396.s0, or In Indi.
ana, at S3l5 959 In Pennsylvania, at S346.-
90, or Minnesota, at S4O6059 And II free
trade between Europe and America would
degrade the America laborer to the level
OF the European pauper, to which psuper
would he descend Would he be degraded
to the level of the English "pauper," with
wages at 81 10 per day, or to the German,
with wages at SOC. per day, or the Italian,
with wages at &c., or TO the still higher
protected Russian, with wages at CSC. per
day. Let US hope that our fall will be TO
the level only of the free trade pauper, and
that We may escape the fate of the "pro-
tected" one.
AS we have seen, Secretary Blaine, in
his report to congress, says thai wages In
Massachusetts are higher and the hours of
labor about twelve per cent shorter in her
cotton mills than In the mills of the rest of
the New England states. And taking in
account the increased pay and shorter
hours, wages In Massachusetts are lS per
cent higher than In the rest OF New Eng
land, In the cotton INDUSTRY. Yet We find
that the labor cost of production in the cot.
ton industry In Massachusetts is 81 per cent
of the product. In the rest Of New Eng
land II is % per cent,-again, showing that
the highest wage is the cheapest labor and
though Massachusetts, pays higher wages
in cotton manufacturing than does Connect
icut, yet in the general industries Connect
icut pays 1896 %, and Massachusetts but
1864 26 per annum and measured by what
it produces, Connecticut labor in the gen
eral industries is cheapest, showing that
the higher paid Is the cheaper labor The
law is universal Sometimes in the same
consulate in Europe We ind that wages In
the same industry vary two and three hun
dred per cent If tested by product. how
ever, the higher wage is found to be the
cheaper labor. In the glass industry, for
instance, the glass blowers of the United
States are paid all the way from 50 IS per
day to $1,000, showing that free trade be-
tween the states produces no uniformity of
wages And for the came reason free
trade between the nations would produce
no uniformity; and the theory that the
lower wage would pull down the higher, in
face of these facts, Is the sheerest halucina-
Ition.
1 have confined this investigating 10
wages In manufacturing, but the same rule
holds in agriculture. The empire of Ger
many is divided into six districts. Our
Consular Reports show wages in agricul-
ture in the first district to be IS cents per
day; in the second, 24c.; in the third, 1Sc.;
In the fourth, 23c. in the fifth, 36c., and
In the sixth, 15c. The German farmer is
among the highest protected of Europe
Germany protects them especially against
the farmers of America. Our farmers,
though paying 600 per cent higher wages,
invaded her markets with their corn, and
wheat, and pork, and provisions and |
submit that, with absolute. free trade be
tween Germany and America, we should
invade the German markets though wages
in agriculture are 600 per cent higher than
the German. Need our high priced Amer
lean labor fear the 15c. per day laborer of
Germany: Nonsense! Our labor, though
highest paid, is cheapest. Think of it:
The American laborer upon 100 acres OF
free and rich land, with his planters and
reapers and all improved machinery, takes
his years product into the open market
ana meets IleTe lne GERMAN VIII HIS pIO-
duct raised upon a garden spot, with a
spade, hoe and sickle, and there they, with
out the intervention of middle men, collect
their wages. All can see the result; all
can see why the American receives many
times greater wages. Wages are not acct
dental; they are governed by law. That
law is product, not tariff. He is paid most
who produces most The employer buys
product, not exertion; and he who mag
ines that the poorer paid labor can pull
down the better has simply never examined
the subject The best proof that 1t would
not is that 1t does not. The best paid Amer
lean labor is that engaged in raising wheat
in California Dakota and elsewhere. The
product of this labor is sold in the open
market side by side with the poorest paid
labor of Europe, Asia and Africa. Prices
in Liverpool determine prices in Dakota,
the Crimea, Egypt and India. Our two